Ireton presents ‘Damn Yankees’

Mary Buzby|
Bishop Ireton Student Correspondent

3/30/17

Students of Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria rehearse for the spring production of “Damn Yankees.” COURTESY FREED PHOTOGRAPHY

The spring musical is a long-standing tradition of the Theatre
Arts Program at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria. After hours of
rehearsing, the cast performed “Damn Yankees” to packed houses the final two
weekends in March.

First produced on Broadway in 1955, “Damn Yankees” is a comedic
musical set in Washington, D.C., and embraces the American culture of baseball.
With the New York Yankees dominating the baseball field, the “average” Joe Boyd
is offered to hit for the Washington Senators and play in the Major Leagues.

Carl Undersander as Joe Boyd and Natalie Turkevich as his wife,
Meg Boyd, were excited to take the stage in their first starring roles. “Carl
is fun to work with,” said Natalie. “Even though he’s new to the program, he’s
a good performer and learns fast.”

The show is full of energetic singing and dancing. Gabby Baniqued, lead actress and choreographer,
has been working on these lively numbers. “One song, ‘Shoeless Joe from
Hannibal, Mo,’ has a lot of jumps and flips,” she said. “At one point, we even
throw a freshman, Bobby Sweeney, in the air.”

The set design for “Damn Yankees” has a different look than
previous musicals. “Damn Yankees” is using a “wagon set” where every set piece
is on wheels. “There is way more to designing than just the physical set,” said
set designer Sam Scalsky. “We also have to design the lighting, sound,
construction and paint.”

The set designers run a biannual “Tech Week” leading up to the
show in order to finalize all the pieces they are responsible for and ensure
everything runs smoothly. With this year’s musical, there were additional
rehearsals prior to Tech Week, which Scalsky said is because, “We need to have
the set completely done by Tech Week so we can devote it to rehearsals and
practicing scene changes.”

The stage isn’t the only place with stars — many students worked
behind the scenes to ensure the success of “Damn Yankees.” The costume and
makeup department plays a big role in the audience’s relationship with the
characters. While actors are memorizing their lines, costumers are reading the
script to analyze the characters’ personalities and design costumes that best
portray them to the audience.

“We choose colors that evoke certain emotions for different
characters and scenes,” said costumer and makeup artist Sophia DeLoatche.